When I was a kid I was a huge card collector.  I would sometimes spend entire Saturday’s at the card shop, spending my allowance on packs of Upper Deck, or searching through boxes of commons to try and complete my sets.

It was always such a great feeling, opening a fresh pack of baseball cards.  The only thing that topped it was the excitement of pulling your favourite player.  For me, seeing the beautiful smiling face of a Tony Fernandez was worth the price of the pack all by itself.  In fact, pulling any Toronto Blue Jay was always good for a thrill.

If you read those first two paragraphs and got a smile on your face from the fond memories, AND if you like drinking enormous amounts of beer, then 500 Level Fan has the perfect game for you. 

We call it the Packs Game.

The Packs Game was invented a few years ago, after a Jays game that saw a few of us have one or two (or six) too many brown pops.  Walking along the concourse of the dome, we noticed a series of vending machines scattered all over the 500 Level (they are also on the 100 and 200 levels).  In the machines were rows upon rows of baseball cards.  And not just any baseball cards – the premium cards of my youth.

I saw 1991 and 1992 Upper Deck.

1989 Donruss.

1991 Fleer.

1991 Score.

They were all there.  And they looked glorious.

So what else would a group of guys in their 20′s do but buy a ton of them?  Of course we would!

Stopping at the nearest bar we could find, we ordered drinks and proceeded to invent the greatest game ever played.

Here are the rules:

It is very similar to the card game War, where everybody plays one card at a time, and whoever has the highest card wins.

In the Packs Game, everybody grabs a pack, preferably the same pack.  1992 Upper Deck is a classic.

With the cards hidden so nobody can see ANY (either yours or anybody elses), each player puts one card on the table.  Whoever has the highest priority card wins the entire collection of cards on the table.

How do you determine the highest priority card?  Like this:

First Trump – A Blue Jay, in full uniform.  If anybody pulls a Jay, say a Lloyd Moseby, or a Devon White, or a Dave Stieb, they win.

Second Trump – A Blue Jay, not in uniform.  This is a player who at one point in their career played for Toronto, but did not play for them on this particular card.  Maybe it’s a Tony Fernandez card when he was a Padre, or Rickey Henderson as an A, or Joe Carter as an Indian.  Because the actual Blue Jay logo doesn’t appear, they lose to the First Trunp.

Third Trump and Above – If none of the above were pulled in the round, it’s time to have fun.  The third trump is something that the entire group agrees upon before the game begins.  It can be a stat.  It can be geographical.  It can be physical.  Some popular plays in the past have been:

Statistical

- Most Career HR

- Lowest Career ERA

- Most Stolen Bases in 1988

Geographical

- Team closest to Toronto

- Hometown that is the earliest alphabetical

Physical

- Fullest moustache

- Fattest man

Once it is determined who wins the round, that player gets every card that was played.  At the end of the pack, the player with the most cards wins.

But that isn’t the fun part.  The fun part is this:

The player with the fewest cards is penalized.  Heavily.  By drinking.

If you’re at a bar, order a shot of something.  If you’re at home, make the loser do a shotgun.  Better yet, place bets on the outcome.  Once we had a man guarantee he wouldn’t lose or he’d shotgun three consecutive cans.  He lost.  He shotgunned.  The resulting burp was incredible.

So next time you’re at the Rogers Centre and you walk by the baseball card vending machine, do yourself a favour.

Stop and buy a few packs.

You won’t regret it.

This is my first Christmas post as a blogger.  With other guys doing a great job posting things they want for the Jays in 2011, I thought I’d leave that stuff alone.

I only want to make one simple request.

If you have an old school Blue Jays tuque, please wear it.

This man did and it made my holidays:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everybody.

Thanks for making 500 Level Fan’s first seven months so much fun.

The Strip frontman and performer of "The 500 Level Fan" Darrin Davis

Baseball has “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

The Toronto Blue Jays have “OK Blue Jays!”

Famous players in history, such as Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Joe DiMaggio have had songs written about them.

And now, we here 500 Level Fan can proudly announce a theme song of our own: “The 500 Level Fan.”  Please click on the link in the top right corner of the site for a listen.

Written, recorded, and performed by Darrin Davis of The Strip, “The 500 Level Fan” captures everything that my site tries to provide to readers – a fun, opinionated, and intelligent look at the Blue Jays and their fans.

A bit more about the songwriter:

For those who haven’t had a chance to see The Strip perform live in and around Toronto, you are missing out….big time.  They have performed on some of the biggest and most sought-out stages in the city including the Horseshoe Tavern, the Dakota Tavern, Lee’s Palace, the Opera House, the Supermarket, and Hugh’s Room.  A successful tour of Western Canada culminated in the release of their debut album, the critically acclaimed “Stick to Your Guns”.  A sophomore record – “Long-gone Lonesome Lullabies” – followed to further widespread recognition.

Uber-talented front-man Darrin Davis can pretty much do it all.  Aside from singing, and playing guitar, banjo, saxophone, mandolin, and harmonica, he is also a songwriter extraordinaire, a lover of scotch, and Fireball whiskey, and a class-act, stand-up gentleman.

500 Level Fan is honoured to have an artist of such stature create a song for the site.  The amount of work that goes into one song is astounding, and judging by the final result, it was well, well worth it.

Have a listen.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

*****************************************

For more information on Darrin Davis and The Strip:

-The Strip-
For music, photos,
blogs, concert info and more,
please visit:
http://www.myspace.com/thestripmusic

For HD video, please visit:
http://www.youtube.com/user/dsharpdavis

To Purchase “Stick To Your Guns” please visit Indie Pool at:
www.indiepool.com/tslcd01

Also Available on iTunes.

Sometimes going to the game just isn’t good enough.  Sometimes you need to spice up your in-game experience, especially in those bad times where the Jays are getting bombed.  Some people do this with booze.  Others do it by playing games within the game.

We here at 500 Level Fan do it with both.

Navin Vaswani’s recent column in the Globe and Mail about a game he calls Loonies (my friends and I play a very similar game we call the Hat Game), got me thinking about other ballpark games that add to the excitement of what is happening on the field.  The first one that came to mind this week is a game that we play every single trip into the Dome.  It is a game that we do not know what the prize is for winning.  It is a game that has actually, to this day, never even had a winner.  But it is a game that adds loads of excitement to the ballgame, because the more ridiculous you make it, the more fun it becomes.

It is a game we call “Three for Three”.

The origination of Three for Three (TFT for short) is unclear, lost in the haze and memory loss of upper deck 20 ounce Bud’s and countless St. Louis’ or Firkin or Lone Star pitchers.  But the two simple rules have been the same since the game was born about four or five years ago:

1. Pick three distinct events you think will happen in the game.

2. Get all three right, you win.

The End

Rule #1 is a lot easier said than done however.  Each event must be approved by the entire group to be considered legal.  Some considerations into selecting events are as follows:

- an event can be team or individual based (i.e. a sacrifice fly by the Jays, or a double by Adam Lind)

- it must be fairly specific (i.e. a base hit by Adam Lind is unacceptable, but a double by Lind, or an opposite field single by Lind, or a base hit in the 5th inning by Lind are acceptable)

- events can not be repeated, not within the group, and not by the same person at multiple games (i.e. a Lind double can not be used more than once in a season)

- an event does not necessarily have to involve a player (i.e. a foul ball will land within two rows of our seats)

As I said before, never in the history of TFT has there been a winner.  Due to this fact, we have no idea what to award as a prize in the event a winner ever occurs.  One thing that is obvious though, is that the prize must be significant.  A victory after years and years of failure just can’t be rewarded with a beer or a shot.  No – something majestic must happen.

But over the years there have been several close calls.  In 2007, already with two events secured, one friend needed a multi-homer game for a Blue Jay.  Adam Lind came up in the bottom of the ninth with one home run already, and launched a 1-2 pitch off the top of the wall in centre field.  Double.  No TFT.

Opening Day of 2009 I chose a 4-6-3 double play, a multiple hit game for Lyle Overbay and a ground rule double.  After the double play was completed in the top of the first inning, and Overbay doubled in the bottom of the first, I was an Overbay ground rule double away from the win.  Did not happen  No TFT.

But by far the most agonizing was last season, with a fellow 500 Level Fan.  Joe Inglett came to the plate with my opponent needing a stand-up triple.  After a  shot to the gap that rattled around the wall, Inglett came flying around second.  When the throw was cut-off, it was obvious there would not be a relay to third.  Inglett had the triple!  The first victory in TFT was upon us!  But NO!!!  Inglett inexplicably slid head-first into the base, ruining the stand-up triple, and costing the TFT win.  He has never lived it down.

One final rule to point out is the bonus rule.  The bonus rule in TFT applies to all players: if Johnny Mac ever goes 5 for 5, it is an automatic win for all involved.

Like I said – we have never had a winner…..

The best part about the game by far is when the most creative choices actually come through.  Some classics in TFT history include:

- a foul grounder to first base coach Ernie Whitt, who makes the catch one-handed, turns, and flips underhand into the crowd

- Miguel Tejada of Baltimore to be ejected for arguing balls and strikes

- a broken bat single between the shortstop and the second base bag

- a fly ball off the DQ ad on the right field wall

- a fan in our section to spill his beer while standing to let other fans into/out of his row

So for anyone heading to the dome this weekend, I encourage you to try it out.  Feel free to email your event selections to fivehundredlevelfan@gmail.com and I’ll post the most creative.  Remember, the more creative/wacky/out-there the selections, the sweeter it feels when they come through.

Just don’t ask me what you get for winning…